World Powers Seek Syria Action as UN Probes Allegations

A Palestinian man carries a candle during a demonstration against the attack in eastern Ghouta in Syria, in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Aug. 22, 2013. Syrian troops renewed on Thursday their artillery assault on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta where opposition groups say that hundreds were killed by toxic gas the day before. Photographer: Abbas Momani/AFP via Getty Images

Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) -- World leaders from Washington to
Istanbul denounced what they said was the use of chemical
weapons by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and called for
action even as United Nations inspectors attempted to probe the
allegations.

U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain is
convinced Assad was behind the attack and that there was
agreement with the U.S. and France on the need to respond.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said his country will
join a “coalition” against Syria if the UN fails to act.

“I’m putting here the case that the Assad regime did this,
and that the use of chemical weapons on a large scale like this
cannot go unaddressed,” Hague told BBC Radio 4. Assad has
denied the accusation.

As inspectors started their investigation of some of the
areas allegedly targeted, Israel’s Minister of Intelligence said
the use of chemicals was “clear,” while French Foreign
Minister Laurent Fabius said it was “obvious” the weapons had
been used and that the “massacre’s origin comes from the regime
of Bashar al-Assad.”

An attempt by the UN officials to visit the site of the
attack was halted by sniper fire, the spokesperson for the
Secretary-General said in an e-mailed statement. Syrian
authorities and opposition activists blamed each other for the
gunfire. The UN team plans to return to area.

‘Drums of War’

Officials in Russia and Iran said UN inspectors must be
allowed to carry out their work. Any military action may have
“extremely dangerous” consequences for the region and recent
U.S. statements have set off “deep alarm” in Russia, Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry
in a phone conversation yesterday, the Foreign Ministry in
Moscow said on its website.

West Texas Intermediate crude traded near a four-day high
on concerns Syria may be attacked and amid signs of economic
recovery in Europe. WTI for October delivery climbed as much as
95 cents to $107.37 a barrel in electronic trading on the New
York Mercantile Exchange and was at $106.51 at 12:06 a.m. London
time. Prices are up 16 percent in 2013.

Hossein Sheikholeslam, the Iranian parliament’s director-general for international affairs, said nations are “beating
the drums of war.” He told the state-run Fars news agency that
Israel risks being the “victim” if any attempt is made to
attack Syria.

The global rhetoric came after a rocket attack on the
Damascus suburb of Ghouta last week that the Syrian opposition
says killed more than 1,300 from toxic gas. Assad and the
opposition traded accusations over chemical weapons use.

Without UN Backing

“What happened in Syria five days ago is beyond our worst
imagination -- the use of chemical weapons as weapons of mass
destruction,” Steinitz told journalists today at a Jerusalem
briefing. “The world can’t allow this to happen. The world
can’t allow this to proceed.”

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said there was
a “very high probability” that chemical weapons were used and
that such an attack “can’t go without consequences.”

The U.K.’s Hague and Turkey’s Davutoglu signaled that
action may be taken even without the backing of the UN Security
Council.

“Is it possible to respond without complete agreement on
the security council? I would argue yes it is,” Hague said.
“Other countries including France are very clear that we can’t
allow the idea that chemical weapons in the 21st century can be
used with impunity.”

‘Nonsense’

Assad has dismissed the accusations as “nonsense,”
telling Russian newspaper Izvestia the allegations were
“politicized.” The U.S. will be faced with “failure” if it
decides on the military option, Assad said. “America has waged
many wars, but has never been able to achieve its political
objectives from any of them,” Assad said in the interview.

A team of UN inspectors was already in Syria to probe
previous claims of chemical weapons use when the Ghouta attack
happened. Some members of that team have now entered Moadamiya,
a town in the area, Skynews Arabiya reported today.

The probe five days after the purported attack is too late
because constant shelling of the area could have corrupted or
destroyed evidence, according to a senior U.S. administration
official in an e-mailed statement.

Pressure Building

Pressure is building on President Barack Obama to respond,
with Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, Republicans on the
Senate Armed Services Committee, calling for a limited military
response by the U.S. and its allies. The U.S., the U.K. and
France are discussing options.

Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, the ranking Republican on
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, speaking on MSNBC, said
Obama doesn’t need authorization from Congress to begin military
action “but I do hope they come for one.” He predicted that as
soon as lawmakers get back from their summer recess on Sept. 9,
Congress “will take up an authorization for this. It’s the
right thing to so.”

U.S. intelligence officials and international partners have
concluded that chemicals were used, based on the reported number
of victims, reported symptoms of those who were killed or
injured in the Aug. 21 attacks, witness accounts and other facts
gathered, according to the U.S. statement.

‘Little Doubt’

“There is very little doubt at this point that a chemical
weapon was used by the Syrian regime against civilians in this
incident,” according to the official’s statement. The statement
was released on condition of anonymity because the person wasn’t
authorized to speak publicly.

Obama said a year ago that the use of chemical weapons by
the Assad regime would cross a U.S. “red line.” The U.S. now
has four destroyers equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles in
the Mediterranean Sea, compared with three that have been there
for months, according to a U.S. official familiar with the
forces there. None of the ships -- the USS Gravely, the USS
Barry, the USS Mahan and the USS Ramage -- has been assigned a
mission, the official said.